MUSICA GENERA FESTIVAL 2009
International festival of contemporary music and art of sound
26-27-28 June 2009, Warsaw, Poland
Dramatyczny Theatre of c.s. Warsaw of Gustaw Holoubek
Muzeum of Modern Art in Warsaw
Powiększenie
Musica Genera Festival is dedicated to the contemporary artistic music, all audio phenomena
that can be described as audio art. The eighth instalment of the MGF, for the first time
in Warsaw, is a new opening for the project. The foundations of MGF are the infinite
possibilities of sound creation, structural organisation, instrumental techniques, the
legacy of dozens of years of creative explorations. Each instalment of the festival
presented a segment of this complex sound world.
This year's festival presents the projects from the fields of installation (Edwin van der
Heide, Norbert Möslang, Anna Zaradny), audio-visual performance (Robin Fox, SYNCHRONATOR),
film (Stefan Neméth, Elka Krajewska), composer's concert (Lionel Marchetti, Marcus
Schmickler), improvisational premieres (Brandlmayr/Friedl/Noetinger, Marhaug/Wiese),
acoustic and electronic virtuosity (Reinhold Friedl, Jérôme Noetinger) and performances
of legendary groups (PAN SONIC, JAZKAMER).
MGF is not only the platform of presentation for existing phenomena, but also each year
introduces new projects initiated and prepared by the festival's curators. These include
unique configurations of improvising, electroacoustic musicians, commissioned works and
music releases. This year the new album by Lionela Marchetti and Yoko Higashi
"OKURA 73°N-42°E" (Musica Genera: G005) will have it's premiere during the festival.
The festival events will take place in three venues, each one with it's unique
characteristics. The main stage for concerts will be Teatr Dramatyczny: two stages and
alternative spaces open for artists and audience. The Modern Art Museum (Muzeum Sztuki
Nowoczesnej) will host the sound installations and the lecture. Each day of the festival
will end with evening performances in the Klub Powiększenie.
Cafe Kulturalna will be the festival's official club.
organization:
Musica Genera, Plan B Association
co-organization:
Dramatyczny Theatre of c.s. Warsaw of Gustaw Holoubek
cooperation:
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Powiększenie, Cafe Kulturalna, Encouragement of Contemporary Art in Szczecin
support:
Capitol City Hall of Warsaw, Pro Helvetia, Austrian Culture Forum, German Embassy Warsaw
curators:
Anna Zaradny, Robert Piotrowicz
media partners:
TVP Kultura, 2 Program Polskiego Radia, Przekrój, Notes.na.6.tygodni, Exklusiv, Aktivist, Gazeta Wyborcza, onet.pl
hotel sponsor:
Hotel Metropol Warszawa
prints:
Fingerprints
design/video:
Kopa/kopa.tv
webmaster:
Dominik Kowalczyk
Artists presented during the festival:
Martin Brandlmayr (AT), Robin Fox (AUS), Reinhold Friedl (DE), Franz Hautzinger (AT),
Edwin van der Heide (NL), JAZKAMER (NOR), Elka Krajewska (PL-USA), Lionel Marchetti (FR),
Lasse Marhaug (NOR), Norbert Möslang (CH), Stefan Neméth (AT), Jérôme Noetinger (FR)
PAN SONIC (FIN), Phroq (CH), Gert Jan Prins (NL), Marcus Schmickler (DE), SYNCHRONATOR (NL)
Hild Sofie Tafjord (NOR), John Wiese (USA), Paul Wirkus (PL), Christian Wolfarth (CH)
Wolfram (PL), Anna Zaradny (PL)
ADDRESSES OF FESTIVAL VENUES
Dramatyczny Theatre of c.s. Warsaw of Gustav Holoubek, Palace of Culture and Science, Plac Defilad 1, Warsaw
Muzeum of Modern Art in Warsaw, Pańska 3, Warsaw
Powiększenie - festival's club and office, Nowy Świat 27, Warsaw, tel. 0048 503 118 088
Cafe Kulturalna - festival's club, Palace of Culture and Science, Plac Defilad 1, Warsaw
//////////////////////////////////////// T I C K E T S ////////////////////////////////////////
26.06 27.06 28.06
Dramatyczny Theatre 60,- 60,- 50,- PLN
Powiększenie - 25,- 20,- PLN
Festival pass for all concerts: 150 PLN
Festival pass reservation: festival@musicagenera.net
Festival pass sale from 19th June at Powiększenie (Warsaw, Nowy Świat 27)
Caution! Dramatyczny Theatre, small stage - limited number of seats
////////////////////////////////////// P R O G R A M ////////////////////////////////////////
_____________________________________26 June, Friday_____________________________________
12:00 - 20:00 Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw ____________________________________________
Edwin van der Heide (NL)
Sound Modulated Light 3 PL - audio-visual installation
Anna Zaradny (PL)
TRIGONOMETRY7 - audio-visual installation
eM U Zet E U eM - sound installation
18:00 - 20:00 Dramatyczny Theatre, accountancy room, staircase __________________________
Norbert Möslang (CH)
Capture Extended - audio-visual installation
Elka Krajewska (PL/USA)
Lata-po-klatka-ch (She flights through frames / Years on stairs) - spatial movie
20:00 Dramatyczny Theatre, big stage ____________________________________________________
Robin Fox (AUS)
computer, laser
Reinhold Friedl (DE)
piano
21:30 Teatr Dramatyczny, small stage ____________________________________________________
Franz Hautzinger / Gert Jan Prins / Christian Wolfarth (AT-NL-CH)
Franz Hautzinger - trumpet
Gert Jan Prins - electronics
Christian Wolfarth - percussions
22:30 Dramatyczny Theatre, big stage ____________________________________________________
PAN SONIC (FIN)
Mika Vainio - electronics
Ilpo Väisänen - electronics
23:30 Cafe Kulturalna ____________________________________________________________________
Jacek Sienkiewicz / Recognition (PL)
afterparty
_____________________________________27 June, Saturday____________________________________
12:00 - 20:00 Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw _____________________________________________
Edwin van der Heide (NL)
Sound Modulated Light 3 PL - audio-visual installation
Anna Zaradny (PL)
TRIGONOMETRY7 - audio-visual installation
eM U Zet E U eM - sound installation
16:00 - 18:00 Dramatyczny Theatre, accountancy room, staircase ___________________________
Norbert Möslang (CH)
Capture Extended - audio-visual installation
Elka Krajewska (PL/USA)
Lata-po-klatka-ch (She flies through frames / Years on stairs) - spatial movie
17:00 Teatr Dramatyczny Sala im. Zatorskiego _____________________________________________
Franz Hautzinger (AT)
trumpet
17:30 Teatr Dramatyczny, mała scena ______________________________________________________
Martin Brandlmayr (AT)
drums, vibraphone, electronics
Hild Sofie Tafjord (NOR)
electronics, french horn
19:00 Dramatyczny Theatre, big stage _____________________________________________________
Lionel Marchetti (FR)
composer's concert, musique concrète
20:00 Teatr Dramatyczny, mała scena ______________________________________________________
Martin Brandlmayr / Reinhold Friedl / Jérôme Noetinger (AT-DE-FR)
Martin Brandlmayr - drums
Reinhold Friedl - piano
Jérôme Noetinger - electroacoustic devices
21:00 Dramatyczny Theatre, big stage _____________________________________________________
Marcus Schmickler (DE)
computer
22:30 Powiększenie _______________________________________________________________________
Lasse Marhaug / John Wiese (NOR-USA)
Lasse Marhaug - electronics
John Wiese - electronics
Paul Wirkus (DE/PL)
electronics
___________________________________28 June, Sunday________________________________________
12:00 - 20:00 Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw _____________________________________________
Edwin van der Heide (NL)
Sound Modulated Light 3 PL - audio-visual installation
Anna Zaradny (PL)
TRIGONOMETRY7 - audio-visual installation
eM U Zet E U eM - sound installation
14:00 Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw _____________________________________________________
Lionel Marchetti (FR)
lecture
16:00 - 18:00 Dramatyczny Theatre, accountancy room, staircase ___________________________
Norbert Möslang (CH)
Capture Extended - audio-visual installation
Elka Krajewska (PL/USA)
Lata-po-klatka-ch (She flights through frames/Years on stairs) - spatial movie
18:00 Dramatyczny Theatre, small stage ___________________________________________________
Jérôme Noetinger (FR)
electroacoustic devices
Stefan Neméth (AT)
electronics (music for movies by Lotte Schreiber (AT) - "I.E.(site 01 - isole eolie)", "Domino")
20:00 Dramatyczny Theatre, big stage _____________________________________________________
SYNCHRONATOR (NL)
Gert Jan Prins - electronics
Bas van Koolwijk - video
JAZKAMER (NOR)
Lasse Marhaug - electronics
Jon Hegre - guitar
Nils Are Drönen - drums
22:30 Powiększenie _______________________________________________________________________
Wolfram (PL)
computer
Phroq (CH)
computer, electronics
/////////////////////////////// I N S T A L L A T I O N S ///////////////////////////////
Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw
opening 14.06.2009, 7 PM open daily (except Mondays) 12AM - 8PM up to 15.07.2009
Edwin van der Heide (NL)
Sound Modulated Light 3 PL
Sound Modulated Light is an environment of light and sound wherein sound is not present
acoustically, but is carried by light. The space consists of a design of multiple lights.
Each light bulb has its own soundtrack assigned to it. The sound is modulated on top of the
light by means of intensity modulation. Low audio frequencies result in a visible flickering
of the lights. Higher audio frequencies result in a flickering that is too fast to be
perceived by our eyes.
Sound Modulated Light is a participative environment in which the visitors are invited to
explore and interact with the space.
(work from the collection of Encouragement of Contemporary Art Association in Szczecin)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anna Zaradny (PL)
TRIGONOMETRY7
Trigonometry7 is another work by Anny Zaradny that focuses on the contexts of elusive
abstractions. The artist explores and constructs the relation between the optics and sound,
traces their circulation. The mutual relation of the elements of Trigonometry7 go beyond the
description of space, not only by breaking the visual axis, but by transporting the visual
form to the sinusoidal waveform. Sides, angles, the simplest harmonic wave are the main
materials of the work, which is a peculiar sculpture, carved in the space by the objective
ray of light and the primal sound wave. Trigonometry7 was created on the base of specific
architecture of Modern Art Museum in Warsaw, which partly inspired the work.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anna Zaradny (PL)
eM U Zet E U eM
The interventionist sound installation dedicated to one of the architectural elements of
the Modern Art Museum in Warsaw.
================================================================================
Dramatyczny Theatre of c.s. Warsaw of Gustaw Holoubek
26, 27, 28 June, 6 to 8 PM
Elka Krajewska (PL/USA)
Lata-po-klatka-ch (She flies through frames / Years on stairs) - film przestrzenny
Stretched over the three days of the festival, spatial film developing in the labyrinth of
corridors and stairs of the Palace of Culture and Science. Basic visual elements of the
film (light, frame, shape of projection, rhythm, time sequence) intuitively fitted into
the architecture of stairways, dynamical negotiate their territory in the relation to the
open structure of "Chry-ptus" composition of Eliane Radigue, a two part recording of the
French composer from 1971. Radigue, active since the sixties in the field of so called
drone music/minimal, allowed Krajewska to do "whatever she wants" with the recordings of
"Chry-ptus", that are about continuous mutual adjustment of two different 20-minute
soundtracks being the result of minimal desynchronisation. Krajewska uses "Chry-ptus"
and stairways' spaces as her own audiovisual instrument, creating a new film territory,
developing the time sequence into physical experience, kind of teleportation, patiently
projecting "frame by frame" the daylight from the stone stairs to the projection light
in dark, wooden stairway.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Norbert Möslang (CH)
Capture Extended
The installation reflects the artist's explorations in the environment of light and sound,
mutual relation and interaction of these elements. Capture Extended is a study of
capturing the wave nature of light with audio equipment. Simple arrangement of fluorescent
lamps and contact microphones is supported by the special, dedicated software.
Capture Extended sounds with light and glows with sound.
//////////////////////////////////////// B I O S /////////////////////////////////////////
Martin Brandlmayr
is an Austrian composer and improviser, a percussionist using also electronics,
a vibraphonist. He is a member of groups Radian, Trapist, Kapital Band 1, Autistic Daughters,
and recently also Polwechsel. He collaborates with artists such diverse as John Tilbury,
Fennesz, Otomo Yoshihide and David Sylvian. His trademark rhythms, rich in detail,
complicated time signatures, and sound nuances, indirectly draw inspiration from the so-called
intelligent dance music. Brandlmayr's original achievement is the ability to perfectly blend
these rhythmic elements into the tissue of improvised music. He proves that there is space for
both sound innovations and rhythms in the more open and abstract music aesthetics.
At the same time he introduces a lot of experimental elements to the post-rock projects.
Robin Fox
is an Australian artist utilising digital media, in both improvised and composed contexts,
working with visuals and sound and also combining both platforms in the form of audio-visual
installations. His work with multichannel audiovisual systems and interactive electroacoustic
environments, dealing with the issue of interaction between the performer, the space and the
computer, earned him PhD in the field of composition. Among his many activities are performances
with the laser shows combined with sound, as an improvising musician in collaborations with such
artists as Anthony Pateras (regular duo with releases for Editions Mego), Tony Buck and creating
live visualisations for other musicians.
Reinhold Friedl
was born in Baden-Baden and now lives and works in Berlin. He is a pianist constantly pursuing new
means of expression and expanding the sound language of his instrument. Also a composer, founder and
artistic director of the Berlin's group Zeitkratzer, a unique collective of soloists dedicated to play
the newest music. Complete independence of the group, which includes it's self-financing, allows
for total freedom in choice of repertoire and collaborators. Those included Karlheinz Stockhausen,
Lou Reed, Keiji Haino, La Monte Young and Merzbow among many others. Friedl, both in his solo activity,
and with Zeitkratzer, rejects the idea of the so-called "purity" of new music, assuming that it's
constant "contamination" is what keeps it alive and developing. Besides music he has also studied
mathematics. He has developed his own unique performing technique involving the piano strings,
for which he came up with the term "inside-piano".
Franz Hautzinger
is a trumpeter and improviser from Austria. He started his career in the 1980s studying jazz in Graz,
but after some years of hiatus, he relocated to Wien and started to rediscover his main instrument,
the quarter tone trumpet, trying to reflect the aesthetics of contemporary electronic music,
using purely acoustic means. These explorations brought him attention of like-minded artists and he
started to collaborate with the world's leading improvisers in the experimental music field.
Another breakthrough for him was incorporating his new techniques into more melodic and rhythmic world,
mainly with his group Regenorchester, an ongoing project with constantly changing lineup.
Hautzinger is now a fully developed and versatile artist, open for many aesthetics, with his own,
unique sound language. He is a teacher, member of Zeitkratzer collective, a traveller looking for
new opportunities and contexts for his music around the world, in collaborations with musicians of many
cultures and traditions.
Edwin van der Heide
is a Dutch artist, who, after studying sonology, devoted himself to experimental activities on the
borderland of music, picture and installation. The characteristic feature of his projects is working on
the edge of each media's characteristics, which makes it difficult to describe them with the terminology
typical for any traditional art form. His realisations, while dealing with sound, are not typical concerts.
They can take the shape of performance, installation or interactive multimedia environment.
He teaches at many universities, his artistic output includes many compositions and installations,
some of which are permanent elements of selected spaces or architectural forms.
JAZKAMER
is a duo of Norwegians John Hegre and Lasse Marhaug. The artists work together since 1998, when the group
started it's activity under the name Jazzkammer. Their common output can be generally classified as noise
music, even though each of their recordings, including collaborative efforts with numerous other performers,
differ from each other as much, as the means used for creating the sound in the process of making them.
In 2004 Marhaug has released a solo record called "The Shape Of Rock To Come", title of which (a tribute to
Ornette Colemana of course) perfectly describes the music of the duo, that had changed it's name the same
year to Jazkamer, just to get rid of "jazz" out of it. Their music truly is rock, the potential rock of the
future, as it should be. Extreme, uncompromising, dirty and true.
Elka Krajewska
is a visual artist born in Warsaw and living in New York. She creates films, digital movies and broadly
interpreted screen-works, combining combine impulsive character of image with multi-source recordings and
transmissions through the help of structures often borrowed from other disciplines (plastic arts, musical
notations, word-creation, spatial navigation systems or scientific protocols). Engaging in many multi-disciplinary
art projects, Krajewska collaborates with many other artists, often from the field of experimental music.
A lot of her works focus on the dynamics and tension between the visual elements and sound. She experiments with
techniques and equipment, working both in intimate and in monumental scale (for example a special project developed
for the IMAX screen).
Lionel Marchetti
is a French composer of musique concrete and improviser. Aesthetic of his artistic output is rooted in the
tradition of musique concrete originated by Pierre Schaeffer, but he belongs to the group of artists who had
taken it's academic achievements to the ground of independent music scene of free improvisation. His work develops
parallely in the fields of composition and improvisation. Many recordings document both areas. Characteristic for
his music is the stunning care for detail and dramaturgy, which makes his electroacoustic collages engaging and
full of tension, almost narrative. Marchetti is also a poet and essayist, and spoken words are often the building blocks
of his compositions. He also engages in interdisciplinary projects, for example an improvising duo with the
dancer Yoko Higashi.
Norbert Möslang
from Switzerland is a visual and sound artist. He started as a free jazz saxophonist, but abandoned acoustic
instruments in favour of using every-day home appliances, in the ways unintended by their creators. For many years
his main artistic partner was Andy Guhl, together they were known as Voice Crack duo. With this project the artists
earned well deserved recognition for their musical and visual work with broken every-day electronic appliances.
Since 2002 Möslang mostly works solo, and his interests gradually became biased towards the unorthodox application of
digital techniques. Another field of his interest is the relation between the visible and the audible, light and sound
and the inclinations of their common, wave nature.
Stefan Neméth
is an Austrian multi-instrumentalist and composer. Mostly known for his membership in Radian and Lokai, he has been
creating his own solo music for years. The release of his first solo album, "Film", which collects transformed and
rearranged soundtrack works from many years, was an important moment in his career. Neméth's music exists on the aesthetic
borderland, bringing together and mixing the rhythmic, melodic, traditional and experimental, atonal, avant-garde elements.
It sets aside all the traditional distinctions between electronic and acoustic, digital and analogue, ambient and engaging,
instead proposing a new, coherent, post-eclectic music for the new century.
Jérôme Noetinger
is an improviser and electroacoustic music creator form Grenoble in France. Composer of the studio musique concrete
and live improviser, utilising the analogue appliances such as the Revox A77 reel-to-reel recorder and magnetic tapes,
mixers, microphones, home appliances and self-made objects. He is a member of Cellule d'Intervention Metamkine collective,
an audiovisual group mixing live collages of pictures form 16 mm film projectors with live electroacoustic soundtrack.
Besides his artistic activity, he is the man behind Metamkine - a non-profit organisation that is one of the biggest
distributors of experimental and avant-garde music records in Europe.
PAN SONIC
from Finland is a duo of Mika Vainio and Ilpo Väisänen. The group that started it's activity as Panasonic, is now a true
legend of the electronic music. In the beginning the musicians focused on the techno aesthetics, although filtered through
their own characteristic sound of self made oscillators and cold, repetitive minimalism, inspired by the famous duo Suicide.
Under pressure form Japanese company the artists got rid of the "a" from their name, and influenced by constantly broadening
spectrum of inspirations, they introduced new elements to their music, moving more and more into the experimental areas.
Today, their music is one of the most original phenomenons on the European electronic music scene. Their live performances
are notorious for powerful sound and dangerous volume.
Phroq
is an alias of Francisco Meirino, living in Switzerland. His music is a constantly changing, complex stream of sound
generated from computer, contact microphones and many different acoustic sources. The effect is a very dynamic structure
oscillating between the intense electroacoustics and passages of pure noise. Intensity and precision are the main
characteristics of this sound. What fascinates Merino the most in music, is the tension between the programmed result
and chance occurrences, which builds the delicate balance of control and chaos. Merino performs and publishes records
both under his own name and as Phroq, releases in established noise labels around the world, collaborates with many
like-minded artists from many countries. He is also creating multimedia installations.
Gert Jan Prins
is a Dutch improviser and constructor of instruments. He began as a percussionist, but soon got interested in building
his own, analogue and digital electronic systems. He uses them to generate dirty, aggressive, rough explosions of sound
matter, that he is able to restrain within the clear, often very rhythmic structure of his music. Thus he refers to the
industrial culture heritage, studying the inclinations of mutual relations between human and the machine. He often
collaborates with visual artists and also works with visuals himself.
Marcus Schmickler
lives and works in Cologne. He is a classically trained composer and electronic musician, a versatile artist of many faces.
His compositions contribute to the tradition of German academic electronic and electroacoustic music, and at the same time
relate to the latest trends in today's electronic avant-garde. He is also an active improviser, working in different
configurations with other improvising instrumentalists, in this context mainly using computer. His interest in more
conventional forms of music is reflected in his activity with the Pluramon project, among others.
SYNCHRONATOR
is a Dutch multimedia duo of Gert-Jan Prins and Bas van Koolwijk. The artists are devoted to explore the possibilities
created by the modern equipment, both analogue and digital, in the field of generating pictures which are not based on
"proper" video signal. Instead, they base on potential of possibilities offered by the very technical structure of the
hardware. Thus they generate pictures that expose and reflect the true nature of machines behind the commonly known TV
picture. The artists, among other activities, also experiment with the visual representation of sound by direct
implementation of audio signal to special, self-made picture generating systems.
Hild Sofie Tafjord
comes from Norway, where she studied jazz and improvised music. She is involved in SPUNK
and Fe-Mai, as wall as numerous other groups and collaborations. French horn is her main
instrument, but she broadens her sound palette by using electronics, other instruments and
devices. She is mostly active as an improviser, but she also creates electronic compositions
in the studio. Her approach towards the instruments focuses on unorthodox techniques and
forms of expression, and usage of electronic devices to alter the sound and build multilayer
structures is a natural consequence of her experiments. She also creates music for theatre,
dancers, installations and films.
John Wiese
comes from the USA an is one of the most active representatives of the thriving local noise
scene. Both solo, and with projects such as Sissy Spacek, LHD, or in collaborations with
other artists, he uncompromisingly penetrates the most extreme forms of sound expression.
He uses many means, from computer, through different electronic devices, tape manipulations
and collages, to more traditional instruments. As many other artists from the American scene,
he proves that noise music, with it's DIY ethos and disrespect for all rules and boundaries,
is the punk of today.
Paul Wirkus
comes from Poland, but has been living in Cologne for many years. He is a percussionist and
electronic musician, performing both solo and in many different groups and projects.
His roots can be traced back to punk-rock, but his mature output, both acoustic and electronic,
is biased towards the minimalism. It can be characterised by economy and careful choice of the
means of expression, meditative repetitions and clarity of vision. Among Wirkus' collaborators
there are such artists as Barbara Morgenstern, Stefan Schneider, Ekkehard Ehlers,
Mikołaj Trzaska and Macio Moretti. He has also worked with the writer Andrzej Stasiuk,
accompanying his readings and created a radio play for Czech Radio in Prague.
Christian Wolfarth
comes from Switzerland, where he had completed the education as percussionist and composer.
Since the middle of the 1980s he is involved in the performing of broadly implied jazz and
improvised music. His versatile approach towards percussion instruments led him to collaborations
with numerous musicians from around the world, originating from many traditions and aesthetics:
ethnic, jazz, free improvisation to contemporary classical forms. He also works with dancers on
regular basis, mostly with Nina Schneider.
Wolfram
is the alias of Warsaw based Dominik Kowalczyk. A veteran of Polish electronic music scene,
former member of the trio Neurobot, he has been recording solo since 2000.
His main instrument is computer and his style is modern ambient, filtered through the
experiences of noise music. Wolfram creates seemingly calm soundscapes, yet very far from
relaxation music, full of tension, not free from distracting, aggressive elements.
He has released several well received albums, created music for theatre. He is also a web-designer.
Anna Zaradny
is a Polish composer, improviser and sound artist. Her main instrument are saxophone and computer.
She is a classically trained musician, her creative path led her towards experimental,
electroacoustic forms, free improvisation and electronic music. As instrumentalist and composer
she focuses on utilising extended instrumental techniques and multi-layered, structurally complex
sound constructions. She is also active in the field of visual art and multimedia installations,
exploring the physical, abstract nature of light and sound. She is also involved in
interdisciplinary projects including theatre, literature, arts.